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Immunoelectron Microscopic Study on the Paneth Cell of Rabbit after the Common Bile Duct Ligation (총담관결찰후 집토끼 Paneth세포의 변화에 대한 면역전자현미경적 연구)

  • Park, Kyung-Ho;Cho, Hwee-Dong;Yang, Nam-Gil;Ahn, E-Tay;Ko, Jeong-Sik;Kim, Jin-Gook
    • Applied Microscopy
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.78-92
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    • 1994
  • Lysozyme has been reported to be present in the secretory granules of the Paneth cell, and lysozyme immunoreactivity has been detected by immunogold method in Paneth cells of the intestine of human, mouse and rat. The present study was aimed at clarifying the intracellular distribution and changes of the lysozyme immunoreactivity in rabbit Paneth cell after common bile duct ligation of rabbit, using the electron microscope immunogold technique. Healthy adult rabbits weighing about 2kg body weight were divided into normal and bile duct ligated groups. Common bile duct ligation was performed aseptically under ether anesthesia. Experimental animals were sacrificed on the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th, the 7th and the 14th day after the operation. Mucosal specimens from the intestinal gland of ileum were fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde-1.5% paraformaldehyde, followed by 1% osmium tetroxide, embedded in araldite mixture, cut with LKB-V ultratome. Ultrathin sections were placed on parlodion coated nickel grids (200mesh). The section-bearing grids were floated upside down on the added substance in a moist chamber at room temperature except for the primary antibody step, which was at $4^{\circ}C$. Sections were etched with a saturated solution of sodium m-periodate for 60min. After etching, sections were pretreated with 0.02M tris buffered saline (TBS), pH 8.4, with 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA, Sigma) for 60min, then treated polyclonal rabbit anti-human lysozyme (Dakipatts) diluted 1 : 50 in TBS with 0.1% BSA for 20hr. Subsequently, grids were incubated 60min in biotinylated goat anti rabbit IgG (Amersham) diluted 1 : 100 in TBS with 0.1% BSA. After this, sections were incubated 60min on streptavidin gold G10 (Amersham) diluted 1 : 50 in TBS with 0.1% BSA. After each step, the grids were briefly rinsed with TBS with 0.1% BSA. After the strepavidin gold step, the sections were jet washed with distilled water. Counterstain of the sections performed by uranyl acetate and lead citrate, and observed with JEM 100 CX II electron microscope. Observed results were as follow; 1. Secretory granules of mouse Paneth cells have a lysozyme immunoreactivity and also eosinophil leucocyte of rabbit applied for the positive-control stain, are well labeld with gold particles. 2. Normal rabbit Paneth cells have a lysozyme immunoreactivity restricted on the secretory granules. 3. Amount lysosomes containing myelin figures in the Paneth cells were significantly increased from 5th day after the common bile duct ligation. 4. Immunoreactivity of Paneth cell secretory granules were more activated on the 3rd day after the common bile duct ligation as compared with those of the normal animal. But the lysozyme immunoreactivity were decreased from the 5th day after the common bile duct ligation. 5. Considering the above finding, lysozyme contained Paneth cell are affected following of common bile duct ligation, whereas lysosomes containing myelin-figure do not exhibit any immunoreactive relationship with those of secretory granules.

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Soil Chemical Property and Microbial Community under Organic and Conventional Radish Farming Systems (무 유기재배와 관행재배 토양의 화학성과 미생물 군집 비교)

  • Kang, Ho-Jun;Yang, Sung-Nyun;Song, Kwan-Cheol;Cho, Young-Yuen;Kim, Yu-Kyoung
    • Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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    • v.27 no.4
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    • pp.479-499
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    • 2019
  • This study was conducted to investigate the responses of soil properties and microbial communities to different agricultural management and soil types, including organic management in Andisols (Org-A), organic management in Non-andisols (Org-NA), conventional management in Andisols (Con-A) and conventional management in Non-andisols (Con-NA) by using a pyrosequencing approach of 16S rRNA gene amplicon in Radish farms of volcanic ash soil in Jeju island. The results showed that agricultural management systems had a little influence on the soil chemical properties but had significant influence on microbial communities. In addition, soil types had significant influences on both the soil chemical properties and microbial communities. Organic farming increased the microbial density of bacteria and biomass C compared to conventional farming, regardless of soil types. Additionally, Org-NA had the highest dehydrogenase activity among treatments, whereas no difference was found between Org-A, Con-A and Con-NA and had the highest species richness (Chao 1) and diversity (Phyrogenetic diversity). Particularly, Chao 1 and Phyrogenetic diversity were increased in organic plots by 12% and 20%, compared with conventional plots, respectively. Also, regardless of agricultural management and soil types, Proteobacteria was the most abundant bacterial phylum, accounting for 21.9-25.9% of the bacterial 16S rRNAs. The relative abundance of putative copiotroph such as Firmicutes was highest in Org-NA plot by 21.0%, as follows Con-NA (13.1%), Con-A (6.7%) and Org-A (5.1%.), respectively and those of putative oligotrophs such as Acidobacteria and Planctomycetes were higher in Con-A than those in the other plots. Furthermore, LEfSe indicated that organic system enhanced the abundance of Fumicutes, while conventional system increased the abundance of Acidobacteria, especially in Non-andisols. Correlation analysis showed that total organic carbon (TOC) and nutrient levels (e.g. available P and exchangeable K) were significantly correlated to the structure of the microbial community and microbial activity. Overall, our results showed that the continuous organic farming systems without chemical materials, as well as the soil types made by long-term environmental factors might influence on soil properties and increase microbial abundances and diversity.

A Study on Effects of Air-delivery Rate upon Drying Rough Rice with Unheated Air. (벼의 자연통풍건조에 있어서 통풍량이 건조에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구)

  • 이상우;정창주
    • Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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    • v.16 no.1
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    • pp.3293-3301
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    • 1974
  • An experimental work was conducted by using a laboratory-made model dryer to investigate the effect of the rate of natural forced-air on the drying rate of rough rice which was deposited in the deep-bed. The dryer consisted of 8 cylinderical containers with grain holding screen at their bottoms, each of which having 30cm in diameter and 15cm in height. The containers were sacked vertically with keeping them air-tight by using paper tape during dryer operation. Two separate layers of containers were operated in the same time to have two replications. The moisture contents of grains within each bins after predetermined period of dryer operation were determined indirectly by measuring the weight of the individual containers. The air-rates were maintained at 6 levels, or 5, 8, 10, 15, 18 and 20 millimenters of static head of water. The roomair conditions during dryer operation were maintained in the range of 10-l5$^{\circ}C$ in temperature and 40-60% in relative humidity. The results of the study are summarized as follows: 1. Drying characteristics of the grains in the bottom layers were approximately the same regardless of airdelivery rates, giving the average drying rate as about 0.35 percent per hour after 40-hour drying period, during which moisture content (w. b.) reduced from 24 percent to about 10 percent. 2. After about 40-hour drying period, the mean drying rates increased from 0.163 percent per hour to 0.263 percent per hour as air-flow rates increased from 5mm to 87.16mm of static head of water. In the same time, the moisture differences of grains between lower and upper layers varied from 12.7 percent at the air rate of 5mm of water head to 7.5 percent at the air-flow rate of 20mn of water head. Thus, the greater the air-flow rate was, the more overall improvement in drying performance was. Additionally, from the result of ineffectiveness of drying grain positioned at 70cm depth or above by the air rate of 5mm of static head of water it may be suggested in practical application that the height of grain deposit would be maintained adequately within the limits of air-rates that may be actually delivered. 3. Drying after layer-turning operation was continued for about 30 hours to test the effectiveness of reducing moisture differences in the thick layers. As a result of this layer-turning operation, moisture distribution through layers approached to narrow ranges, giving the moisture range as about 7 percent at air-flow rate of 5mm head of water, about 3 percent at 10mm head about 2 percent at 15mm head, and less than 1 percent at 20mm head. In addition, from the desirable results that drying rate was rapid in the lower layers and dully in the upper layers, layer-turning operation may be very effective in natural air drying with deep-layer grain deposit, especially when the forced air was kept in low rate. 4. Even though the high rate of air delivery is very desirable for deep-layer natural-air drying of rough rice, it can be happened that the required air delivery rate could not be attained because of limitation of power source available on farms. To give a guide line for the practical application, the power required to perform the drying with the specified air rate was analyzed for different sizes of drying bin and is given in Table (5). If a farmer selects a motor of which size is 1 or {{{{1 { 1} over {2 } }}}} H.P. and air-delivery rate which ranges from 8~10mm of head, the diameter of grain bin may be suggested to choose about 2.4m, also power tiller or other moderate size of prime motor may be recommended when the diameter of grain bin is about 5.0m or more for about 120cm grain deposit.

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Review of the Radiation Risk and Clinical Efficacy Associated with Computed Tomography Cancer Screening (암의 조기발견을 위한 CT촬영에서의 임상적 효능과 방사선위해에 대한 고찰)

  • Kim, Hyun Ja
    • Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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    • v.38 no.4
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    • pp.214-227
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    • 2013
  • Computed tomographic scan as a screening procedures in asymptomatic individuals has seen a steady increase with the introduction of multiple-raw detector CT scanners. This report provides a brief review of the current controversy surrounding CT cancer screening, with a focus on the radiation induced cancer risks and clinical efficacy. 1. A large study of patients at high risk of lung cancer(the National Lung Screening Trial[NLST]) showed that CT screening reduced cancer deaths by 20%(1.33% in those screened compared with 1.67% in those not screened). The rate of positive screening tests was 24.2% and 96.4% of the positive screening results in the low-dose CT group were false-positive. Radiation induced lung cancer risk was estimated the most important in screening population because ERR of radiation induced lung cancer does not show the decrease with increasing age and synergistic connection between smoking and radiation risk. Therefore, the radiation risk may be on the same order of magnitude as the benefit observed in the NLST. Optimal screening strategy remain uncertain, CT lung cancer screening is not yet ready for implementation. 2. Computed tomographic colonography is as good as colonoscopy for detecting colon cancer and is almost as good as colonoscopy for detecting advanced adenomas, but significantly less sensitive and specific for smaller lesions and disadvantageous for subsequent therapeutic optical colonoscopy if polyps are detected. The average effective dose from CT colonography was estimated 8-10 $mS{\nu}$, which could be a significant dose if administered routinely within the population over many years. CT colonography should a) achieve at least 90% sensitivity and specificity in the size category from 6 and 10 mm, b) offer non-cathartic bowl preparation and c) be optimized and standardized CT parameters if it is to be used for mass screening. 3. There is little evidence that demonstrates, for whole-body scanning, the benefit outweighs the detriment. This test found large portion of patient(86~90.8%) had at least one abnormal finding, whereas only 2% were estimated to have clinically significant disease. Annual scans from ages 45 to 75 years would accrue an estimated lifetime cancer mortality risk of 1.9%. There is no group within the medical community that recommends whole-body CT. No good studies indicate the accuracy of screening CT, at this time. The benefit/risk balance for any of the commonly suggested CT screening techniques has yet to be established. These areas need further research. Therefore wild screening should be avoided.

An Improved CBRP using Secondary Header in Ad-Hoc network (Ad-Hoc 네트워크에서 보조헤더를 이용한 개선된 클러스터 기반의 라우팅 프로토콜)

  • Hur, Tai-Sung
    • Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.31-38
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    • 2008
  • Ad-Hoc network is a network architecture which has no backbone network and is deployed temporarily and rapidly in emergency or war without fixed mobile infrastructures. All communications between network entities are carried in ad-hoc networks over the wireless medium. Due to the radio communications being extremely vulnerable to propagation impairments, connectivity between network nodes is not guaranteed. Therefore, many new algorithms have been studied recently. This study proposes the secondary header approach to the cluster based routing protocol (CBRP). The primary header becomes abnormal status so that the primary header can not participate in the communications between network entities, the secondary header immediately replaces the primary header without selecting process of the new primary header. This improves the routing interruption problem that occurs when a header is moving out from a cluster or in the abnormal status. The performances of proposed algorithm ACBRP(Advanced Cluster Based Routing Protocol) are compared with CBRP. The cost of the primary header reelection of ACBRP is simulated. And results are presented in order to show the effectiveness of the algorithm.

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A Clinical Study on Fiberoptic Bronchoscopy (화이버 기관지경 검사의 임상적 고찰)

  • 이상기;홍영호;권평중;김중환
    • Proceedings of the KOR-BRONCHOESO Conference
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    • 1981.05a
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    • pp.3.2-3
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    • 1981
  • This paper was attemped to analize 55 cases of fiberoptic bronchoscopy during period of 3 years from Feb. 1978 till Feb. 1981 in Chung Ang University hospital. The results were as follow; 1) In age distribution; Most common age group was 5th decade (15 cases, 27.2%) and the other age groups showed relatively even distribution. 2) The ratio of male to female was 3 to 1. 3) The chief complaints were presented in following order; cough (52%), hemoptysis(25%), dyspnea(23.6%), chest pain(18%), chest disomfort(9%). 4) Direct smear of bronchoscopic aspiration material; Not found 33 cases (60%) were most common finding. In the founded bacteria Gram positive cocci 2 cases (3.6%), Gram negative cocci 2 cases (3.6%), Gram positive bacilli 1 cases (1.8%), Gram negativebacilli 2 cases (3.6%), mixed form 15 cases(27.2%) were presented. 5) Bacterial culture of bronchoscopic aspiration material; No growth 28 cases (50.9%) were most common finding. In the bacterial growth, alpha hemolytic streptococci 10 cases (18.2%), Neisseria group 7cases(12.7%), Klebsiella 2 cases (3.6%), Pseudomonas 2 cases (3.6%), mixed culture 6 cases (10.9%) were presented, 6) The diagnosis of bronchoscopic appearance, laboratory exam., and pathologic exam. of biopsed specimen were 21 cases (38.1%) primary carcinoma of bronchus, 8 cases (14.5%) pulmonary tuberculosis, 7 cases (12.7%) bronchitis in orders.

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Effect of the Addition of Tenderizers on Quality Characteristics of Intermediate Moisture-apple snail(Cipangopaludin chinensis malleasta) Products (연화제 첨가가 우렁이 중간수분식품의 품질 특성에 미치는 영향)

  • Yang, Han-Sul;Chun, Ji-Yeon;Kim, Byung-Chul;Kang, Sung-Won;Jeong, Chang-Ho;Heo, Ho-Jin;Cho, Sung-Hwan;Choi, Sung-Gil
    • Food Science and Preservation
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.288-293
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    • 2007
  • Intermediate moisture-apple snail products were prepared by adding glycerol, sorbitol, kiwi, or pineapple(2% or 5% w/w), as tenderizers, and by drying at $4^{\circ}C$ for 24 hr. The effects of the tenderizers on textural and sensory properties of the apple snail products at intermediate moisture levels were investigated. Moisture content and water activity of the products were ranged from 26.25 to 34.48% and from 0.83 to 0.87, respectively. The addition of glycerol significantly lowered water activity of apple snail samples compared to control prepared without tenderizers. On the other hand, significant increases in moisture content and water activity were observed in apple snail samples treated with kiwi or pineapple(p<0.05). All apple snail samples treated with tenderizers showed a lower shear force than did the control. Apple snail samples treated with 5%(v/v) glycerol showed a higher equilibrium moisture content than did the other samples. SDS-PAGE indicated that proteolytic enzymes in kiwi and pineapple clearly changed the structure of the myosin heavy chain and actin filaments of myofibrillar protein in apple snail samples. Intermediate moisture apple snail samples treated with tenderizers showed significantly improved overall sensory characteristics. The highest overall acceptability was obtained from apple snail samples treated with 5% pineapple, while the lowest overall acceptability was noted in the control sample. This study demonstrates that an acceptable apple snail, with intermediate moisture content, may be produced by using tenderizers at appropriate concentrations.

A Phytosociological Study of the Forest Communities in Mt. Palgong(I) -Pinus densiflora Forests- (팔공산(八公山) 삼림군락(森林群落)의 식물사회학적연구(植物社會學的硏究)(I) -소나무림(林)에 대해서-)

  • Cho, Hyun Je;Hong, Sung Cheon
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.79 no.2
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    • pp.144-161
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    • 1990
  • Pine forest communities developed in Mt. Palgong, southeastern Korea, were studied phytosociologically, with special reference to multiple management of local forests, and were classified into two communities, Pinus densiflora - Quercus mongolica community(I : mountain forest) and P. densiflora-Climbing plants community (II : valley forest) and six subgroups accompanied by several subgroups. Judging from the coincidence method, the division of communities (vegetation units) was closely related to altitude and topography. Based on vegetation units, a vertical distribution map of pine forest communities was prepared. The species composition(%) of pine forest communities under stratification, in upper and lower tree layer, teas I higher than II, in middle and shrubs lacer II higher than I (Total : Upper 15.5%, Middle 28.4%, Lower 34.6%. Shrubs 21.5%. Sum of mean coverage%i of understory vegetation was II twice as high as I (Total. shrubs 28.4%. forbs 11.4%, Graminoids 11.8%, ferns 1.0%). Based on constance, coverage and d.b.h. class etc., an actual growth and occurrence table of tree species and understory vegetation by vegetation unity were prepared, and could assume a criterion for judging potential dominance-growth conditions.

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An Empirical Study in Relationship between Franchisor's Leadership Behavior Style and Commitment by Focusing Moderating Effect of Franchisee's Self-efficacy (가맹본부의 리더십 행동유형과 가맹사업자의 관계결속에 관한 실증적 연구 - 가맹사업자의 자기효능감의 조절효과를 중심으로 -)

  • Yang, Hoe-Chang;Lee, Young-Chul
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.49-71
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    • 2010
  • Franchise businesses in South Korea have contributed to economic growth and job creation, and its growth potential remains very high. However, despite such virtues, domestic franchise businesses face many problems such as the instability of franchisor's business structure and weak financial conditions. To solve these problems, the government enacted legislation and strengthened franchise related laws. However, the strengthening of laws regulating franchisors had many side effects that interrupted the development of the franchise business. For example, legal regulations regarding franchisors have had the effect of suppressing the franchisor's leadership activities (e.g. activities such as the ability to advocate the franchisor's policies and strategies to the franchisees, in order to facilitate change and innovation). One of the main goals of the franchise business is to build cooperation between the franchisor and the franchisee for their combined success. However, franchisees can refuse to follow the franchisor's strategies because of the current state of franchise-related law and government policy. The purpose of this study to explore the effects of franchisor's leadership style on franchisee's commitment in a franchise system. We classified leadership styles according to the path-goal theory (House & Mitchell, 1974), and it was hypothesized and tested that the four leadership styles proposed by the path-goal theory (i.e. directive, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented leadership) have different effects on franchisee's commitment. Another purpose of this study to explore the how the level of franchisee's self-efficacy influences both the franchisor's leadership style and franchisee's commitment in a franchise system. Results of the present study are expected to provide important theoretical and practical implications as to the role of franchisor's leadership style, as restricted by government regulations and the franchisee's self-efficacy, which could be needed to improve the quality of the long-term relationship between the franchisor and franchisee. Quoted by Northouse(2007), one problem regarding the investigation of leadership is that there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it. But despite the multitude of ways in which leadership has been conceptualized, the following components can be identified as central to the phenomenon: (a) leadership is a process, (b) leadership involves influence, (c) leadership occurs in a group context, and (d) leadership involves goal attainment. Based on these components, in this study leadership is defined as a process whereby franchisor's influences a group of franchisee' to achieve a common goal. Focusing on this definition, the path-goal theory is about how leaders motivate subordinates to accomplish designated goals. Drawing heavily from research on what motivates employees, path-goal theory first appeared in the leadership literature in the early 1970s in the works of Evans (1970), House (1971), House and Dessler (1974), and House and Mitchell (1974). The stated goal of this leadership theory is to enhance employee performance and employee satisfaction by focusing on employee motivation. In brief, path-goal theory is designed to explain how leaders can help subordinates along the path to their goals by selecting specific behaviors that are best suited to subordinates' needs and to the situation in which subordinates are working (Northouse, 2007). House & Mitchell(1974) predicted that although many different leadership behaviors could have been selected to be a part of path-goal theory, this approach has so far examined directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented leadership behaviors. And they suggested that leaders may exhibit any or all of these four styles with various subordinates and in different situations. However, due to restrictive government regulations, franchisors are not in a position to change their leadership style to suit their circumstances. In addition, quoted by Northouse(2007), ssubordinate characteristics determine how a leader's behavior is interpreted by subordinates in a given work context. Many researchers have focused on subordinates' needs for affiliation, preferences for structure, desires for control, and self-perceived level of task ability. In this study, we have focused on the self-perceived level of task ability, namely, the franchisee's self-efficacy. According to Bandura (1977), self-efficacy is chiefly defined as the personal attitude of one's ability to accomplish concrete tasks. Therefore, it is not an indicator of one's actual abilities, but an opinion of the extent of how one can use that ability. Thus, the judgment of maintain franchisee's commitment depends on the situation (e.g., government regulation and policy and leadership style of franchisor) and how it affects one's ability to mobilize resources to deal with the task, so even if people possess the same ability, there may be differences in self-efficacy. Figure 1 illustrates the model investigated in this study. In this model, it was hypothesized that leadership styles would affect the franchisee's commitment, and self-efficacy would moderate the relationship between leadership style and franchisee's commitment. Theoretically, quoted by Northouse(2007), the path-goal approach suggests that leaders need to choose a leadership style that best fits the needs of subordinates and the work they are doing. According to House & Mitchell (1974), the theory predicts that a directive style of leadership is best in situations in which subordinates are dogmatic and authoritarian, the task demands are ambiguous, and the organizational rule and procedures are unclear. In these situations, franchisor's directive leadership complements the work by providing guidance and psychological structure for franchisees. For work that is structured, unsatisfying, or frustrating, path-goal theory suggests that leaders should use a supportive style. Franchisor's Supportive leadership offers a sense of human touch for franchisees engaged in mundane, mechanized activity. Franchisor's participative leadership is considered best when a task is ambiguous because participation gives greater clarity to how certain paths lead to certain goals; it helps subordinates learn what actions leads to what outcome. Furthermore, House & Mitchell(1974) predicts that achievement-oriented leadership is most effective in settings in which subordinates are required to perform ambiguous tasks. Marsh and O'Neill (1984) tested the idea that organizational members' anger and decline in performance is caused by deficiencies in their level of effort and found that self-efficacy promotes accomplishment, decreases stress and negative consequences like depression and emotional instability. Based on the extant empirical findings and theoretical reasoning, we posit positive and strong relationships between the franchisor's leadership styles and the franchisee's commitment. Furthermore, the level of franchisee's self-efficacy was thought to maintain their commitment. The questionnaires sent to participants consisted of the following measures; leadership style was assessed using a 20 item 7-point likert scale developed by Indvik (1985), self-efficacy was assessed using a 24 item 6-point likert scale developed by Bandura (1977), and commitment was assessed using a 6 item 5-point likert scale developed by Morgan & Hunt (1994). Questionnaires were distributed to Korean optical franchisees in Seoul. It took about 20 days to complete the data collection. A total number of 140 questionnaires were returned and complete data were available from 137 respondents. Results of multiple regression analyses testing the relationships between the each of the four styles of leadership shown by the franchisor as independent variables and franchisee's commitment as the dependent variable showed that the relationship between supportive leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.13, p<.001),and the relationship between participative leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.07, p<.001)were significant. However, when participants divided into high and low self-efficacy groups, results of multiple regression analyses showed that only the relationship between achievement-oriented leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.14, p<.001) was significant in the high self-efficacy group. In the low self-efficacy group, the relationship between supportive leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.17, p<.001),and the relationship between participative leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.10, p<.001) were significant. The study focused on the franchisee's self-efficacy in order to explore the possibility that regulation, originally intended to protect the franchisee, may not be the most effective method to maintain the relationships in a franchise business. The key results of the data analysis regarding the moderating role of self-efficacy between leadership behavior style as proposed by path-goal and commitment theory were as follows. First, this study proposed that franchisor should apply the appropriate type of leadership behavior to strengthen the franchisees commitment because the results demonstrated that supportive and participative leadership styles by the franchisors have a positive influence on the franchisee's level of commitment. Second, it is desirable for franchisor to validate the franchisee's efforts, since the franchisee's characteristics such as self-efficacy had a substantial, positive effect on the franchisee's commitment as well as being a meaningful moderator between leadership and commitment. Third, the results as a whole imply that the government should provide institutional support, namely to put the franchisor in a position to clearly identify the characteristics of their franchisees and provide reasonable means to administer the franchisees to achieve the company's goal.

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The Effect of Customer Satisfaction on Corporate Credit Ratings (고객만족이 기업의 신용평가에 미치는 영향)

  • Jeon, In-soo;Chun, Myung-hoon;Yu, Jung-su
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.1-24
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    • 2012
  • Nowadays, customer satisfaction has been one of company's major objectives, and the index to measure and communicate customer satisfaction has been generally accepted among business practices. The major issues of CSI(customer satisfaction index) are three questions, as follows: (a)what level of customer satisfaction is tolerable, (b)whether customer satisfaction and company performance has positive causality, and (c)what to do to improve customer satisfaction. Among these, the second issue is recently attracting academic research in several perspectives. On this study, the second issue will be addressed. Many researchers including Anderson have regarded customer satisfaction as core competencies, such as brand equity, customer equity. They want to verify following causality "customer satisfaction → market performance(market share, sales growth rate) → financial performance(operating margin, profitability) → corporate value performance(stock price, credit ratings)" based on the process model of marketing performance. On the other hand, Insoo Jeon and Aeju Jeong(2009) verified sequential causality based on the process model by the domestic data. According to the rejection of several hypotheses, they suggested the balance model of marketing performance as an alternative. The objective of this study, based on the existing process model, is to examine the causal relationship between customer satisfaction and corporate value performance. Anderson and Mansi(2009) proved the relationship between ACSI(American Customer Satisfaction Index) and credit ratings using 2,574 samples from 1994 to 2004 on the assumption that credit rating could be an indicator of a corporate value performance. The similar study(Sangwoon Yoon, 2010) was processed in Korean data, but it didn't confirm the relationship between KCSI(Korean CSI) and credit ratings, unlike the results of Anderson and Mansi(2009). The summary of these studies is in the Table 1. Two studies analyzing the relationship between customer satisfaction and credit ratings weren't consistent results. So, in this study we are to test the conflicting results of the relationship between customer satisfaction and credit ratings based on the research model considering Korean credit ratings. To prove the hypothesis, we suggest the research model as follows. Two important features of this model are the inclusion of important variables in the existing Korean credit rating system and government support. To control their influences on credit ratings, we included three important variables of Korean credit rating system and government support, in case of financial institutions including banks. ROA, ER, TA, these three variables are chosen among various kinds of financial indicators since they are the most frequent variables in many previous studies. The results of the research model are relatively favorable : R2, F-value and p-value is .631, 233.15 and .000 respectively. Thus, the explanatory power of the research model as a whole is good and the model is statistically significant. The research model has good explanatory power, the regression coefficients of the KCSI is .096 as positive(+) and t-value and p-value is 2.220 and .0135 respectively. As a results, we can say the hypothesis is supported. Meanwhile, all other explanatory variables including ROA, ER, log(TA), GS_DV are identified as significant and each variables has a positive(+) relationship with CRS. In particular, the t-value of log(TA) is 23.557 and log(TA) as an explanatory variables of the corporate credit ratings shows very high level of statistical significance. Considering interrelationship between financial indicators such as ROA, ER which include total asset in their formula, we can expect multicollinearity problem. But indicators like VIF and tolerance limits that shows whether multicollinearity exists or not, say that there is no statistically significant multicollinearity in all the explanatory variables. KCSI, the main subject of this study, is a statistically significant level even though the standardized regression coefficients and t-value of KCSI is .055 and 2.220 respectively and a relatively low level among explanatory variables. Considering that we chose other explanatory variables based on the level of explanatory power out of many indicators in the previous studies, KCSI is validated as one of the most significant explanatory variables for credit rating score. And this result can provide new insights on the determinants of credit ratings. However, KCSI has relatively lower impact than main financial indicators like log(TA), ER. Therefore, KCSI is one of the determinants of credit ratings, but don't have an exceedingly significant influence. In addition, this study found that customer satisfaction had more meaningful impact on corporations of small asset size than those of big asset size, and on service companies than manufacturers. The findings of this study is consistent with Anderson and Mansi(2009), but different from Sangwoon Yoon(2010). Although research model of this study is a bit different from Anderson and Mansi(2009), we can conclude that customer satisfaction has a significant influence on company's credit ratings either Korea or the United State. In addition, this paper found that customer satisfaction had more meaningful impact on corporations of small asset size than those of big asset size and on service companies than manufacturers. Until now there are a few of researches about the relationship between customer satisfaction and various business performance, some of which were supported, some weren't. The contribution of this study is that credit rating is applied as a corporate value performance in addition to stock price. It is somewhat important, because credit ratings determine the cost of debt. But so far it doesn't get attention of marketing researches. Based on this study, we can say that customer satisfaction is partially related to all indicators of corporate business performances. Practical meanings for customer satisfaction department are that it needs to actively invest in the customer satisfaction, because active investment also contributes to higher credit ratings and other business performances. A suggestion for credit evaluators is that they need to design new credit rating model which reflect qualitative customer satisfaction as well as existing variables like ROA, ER, TA.

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